When we started talking about re-doing our screened in sun room, I had a couple of ideas. I really liked the look of some of the modular furniture you find at the Orange and Blue box stores. Again though, the cost. So I looked at some DIY options and liked this one from Shanty 2 Chic:

Size wise, I think it would fit well in the space and would make for a very cozy spot to drink coffee in the morning or even curl up with a book. But, I really want a dining room table to eat at. And I didn't think that this would work well.

Ultimately, I went with something else that they built, but the found the plans on Ana-White's web site:

Of course, we made a few modifications. The original table was 88" in length after cutting your boards. Having a family of 6, we decided to make it longer at 96" for more seating. Ultimately, by the time we trimmed the boards evenly, we ended up with 94", and I'm very pleased with that.

The plan also have you make the table out of pine. Can I just say, we're not fans of pine. It is our least favorite wood to work with. Because we live in Houston where it gets very humid, and this is an outdoor table, we decided to make our table top out of cedar. Surprisingly, we had to get the lumber at the Blue box store because they didn't carry cedar in 2x4's at the Orange box store.

Originally we planned to have the table built and stained by Memorial Day, since we had a BBQ planned, but this cedar took a LOT more effort to sand down smoothly. For cost purposes, we did build the base out of pine. We love how the table turned out:

This, of course, is not the finished product. We're going to stain the table with a color called Kona from Varathane/Rustoleum to match the chairs. I didn't like the skirt on the original table, which was optional, so we didn't include it in our build. This size is really perfect for this space and it fits right between the two fans (essential for comfort!)

You may also have noticed the lattice. I mentioned in another post that my dogs blew out the screening. Well, no sooner did we put this up, and next to the door that leads out to the backyard, my 80 lb labrador blew it out again. Twice. Re-screening this room is no small task and this lattice helps keep him off the screens.

I bought two of them, since they're only 4x6. I love the colors with the accessories I've already bought. This is a super practical rug since it's polypropylene (aka, plastic) and can be hosed down in the event it gets dirty.

We actually spent this past weekend staining the table, so I'll get those posted soon.

We have a few more things to do as well. I want a bar cart to be able to store my outdoor dishes, so that's still on the building list. I need to purchase the drapes from the inspiration board (3 sets for the entire room). That means we need to run galvanized pipe for our curtain rod as well.

We all have THAT room. That room in our house that we close the door on and pretend it doesn't exist. I think for many people, it's the garage. And my garage is pretty bad too. But the room that was the worst in our house is our screened in sun room.

Here it is when we first moved in:

Literally, this is a photo of the first time I ever viewed the house and was taking photo's to show The Builder, who couldn't go with me that day.

We've never really made good use of this space though. Over the years, we've used it to keep the dogs out of rain, work on projects out of the elements, and we did briefly clean it out last year when we had our daughters' graduation party. Otherwise, this space has been completely wasted.

Until this year.

This winter, my dogs completely trashed this space. The ledge around the windows got chewed off, all the screens got ripped out, and it was dirty! And I've had enough. I love to sit outside and enjoy a nice cup of coffee in the early morning hours, have dinner on the patio. and eat dinner mosquito free. As an added bonus, my oldest son will be a senior this fall, and if we re-do this space now, it's one less thing we need to prep for next spring (when all our family will come out to celebrate with us).

So the past couple of weeks, we've been pushing to get it ready for summer before The Builder has his shoulder repaired and is out for the rest of the summer.

I know I say this a lot on my blog, but seriously, have you priced patio furniture lately?! Even sets at the Orange and Blue box stores are stupid expensive. Maybe if I won the lottery, I'd consider it... Who am I kidding? I'm way too cheap to spend that type of money on patio furniture. And that's not a bad thing.

So my inspiration started with some dishes I found at Pottery Barn. My work does these wellness incentives, where you can earn gift cards for good health habits. At Christmas time, I used my credits to get a Lowe's gift card to get The Builder a new table saw. This time, I got a gift card to Pottery Barn. Because I would never, in a million years, spend that much on outdoor dining plates. But my final cost was $8 out of pocket. And that is doable! So here's my inspiration board:

I started with the plates, which I really loved. I got the plates with coral and with the crabs, coral and sea horses. No fish for me! I looked at the tables for inspiration, and I found several that were OK, but none that I really loved. Thankfully, I was able to go back to my Pinterest board and find some great DIY options on my building board.